German TV crew attacked while filming in China

New
York, March 4, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chinese
authorities to bring criminal charges against assailants who attacked a German
TV crew in the city of Sanhe, approximately 30 miles east of Beijing.

On
Wednesday, unidentified men in at least four cars chased a minivan carrying journalists
working for the German public broadcaster ARD, according to news reports citing
ARD correspondent Christine Adelhardt, who was in the vehicle at the time. The
men rammed the car, forcing it to stop, then began attacking it with bats, the
reports said.

Reports
said that two police officers initially stood by and did nothing to help the TV
crew. Several other police officers then arrived on the scene and restrained
the attackers. Police escorted the journalists to a local station and held them
for questioning for 16 hours, the reports said. No serious
injuries were reported.

"Since
the police initially stood by and watched the TV crew get beaten with bats, it
shouldn't be too difficult to identify the attackers," said CPJ Deputy Director
Robert Mahoney. "The authorities
cannot let such an outrage go unpunished. They must bring the perpetrators to
justice in order to send a signal that such behavior will not be tolerated."

Adelhardt
told journalists that the crew had been filming a report on urbanization in a
local village. A police officer later suggested that the men had attacked the
journalists because they had filmed in the village without obtaining permission
first, news reports said. Permits are not required to film in public in China. Reports
also cited one witness who said that one of the vehicles involved in the attack
belonged to the chief of the local Communist Party.

News
accounts did not immediately report whether any of the attackers were arrested.
Adelhardt told journalists that she saw several of the assailants at the police
station, but was not sure whether they had been detained.

News
accounts reported that the German
Foreign Office had taken up the matter with Chinese authorities. The Chinese
foreign ministry has announced that an investigation is under way, reports said.

For
more data and analysis on China, visit CPJ's Attacks on the Press.